First outing of the grayling season brings… trout a-plenty

What with the rivers being in flood over the past few weeks and multiple domestic commitments I haven’t managed to get to any water until today. So brimful of pathetic optimism I made my way up to Pickering Beck to have a bash at the grayling.

I tackled up the nymphing outfit – 10ft 3wt Snowbee, reel with nylon only and a couple of chunky nymphs on the end:

The beck had been well up and was now down to a nice fishable level, running pretty smartly with a good bit of colour in it. The weather had perked up – dry, a smattering of sunshine and the temperature hovering at about 10C with only the hint of a nippy easterly.

Touched nothing for the first 45 minutes, then hit a nice brown in the channel on the right of the pic above. Yes, I know it’s not cricket to take a pic of an out-of-season fish but as I had it in the net anyhow I couldn’t see the harm. A handsome specimen, maybe touching a pound:

Not what I was after, but it gave me confidence that I could detect a take so I plugged on with a spring in my step. Well, after that it was, frustratingly, brownie after brownie. After about half a dozen I got my flies caught in a tree and with no option but to give the line a sharp tug I cursed as the snap came this side of the braided indicator. And I didn’t have another one. Poor planning that. I rummaged around in the pockets of my vest and found a short length of standard white braided loop. I tied that on as a makeshift indicator and plodded along.

I did hook one small grayling, but it came off before I could bring it to hand. I also saw a couple of clonking great browns in the water, probably not far off 3lb. Mental note for next season.

That was it. Ironically I’d had nine or ten browns, which represents probably my best day for trout this year. Bah! Still, I did see the heron, which looked very majestic, and watched a bunch of crows mobbing a sparrowhawk.

As ever, there are damn site worse ways to while away an hour or three.